10 Classic Rock Music Songs That Sounded Better Stripped Down

Most of the metal community would probably think the world was a much better place if Metallica had never figured out what acoustic guitars were. Although songs like Fade to Black had a softer edge to it at first, hearing ballads during the Load era sent many fans into a frenzy, convinced that their favorite metal band was selling out. After we found out what Metallica could really do on St. Anger, we really needed a balm like this.

Although All Within My Hands is a cut off of St. Anger, you aren’t going to mistake this version for the original any day of the week. On the album, this song does still feel like the band working through their differences in therapy, with the ringing snare getting in the way of everything and James Hetfield screaming “KILL” at the top of his lungs until the song is finally over. It’s not going to be easy translating that to acoustic instruments, but this new take on the song feels like a completely different composition.

With a much more simplistic structure, you start to pay attention to James’ lyrics a little bit more, hearing the more fragile side of his personality shine through as he tries to come to grips with his inner demons. Even with St. Anger’s attempts to sound aggressive and angry, this is probably the closest that we’ve come to seeing Metallica’s more vulnerable side in song. These guys are definitely capable of many different styles of music, but this might be the most unique creation that they have ever made.